Rodrigues
A masculine Portuguese name derived from the Germanic name Roderick, meaning "rich ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 99 living Americans carry the first name Rodrigues. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rodrigues today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rodrigues births was 1978 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rodrigues. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Rodrigues. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
99
~ 1 in 3,462,165 Americans
Peak year
1978
11 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2000 SSA rank
#10,078
Tracked since 1970
Census
Rodrigues in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 173 people with the first name Rodrigues, which placed it at #41,949 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#41,949
National first-name rank
People counted
173
173 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
72.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rodrigues
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodrigues is Black at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and White (11.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Rodrigues described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Rodrigues at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American72.3% · 125
- Hispanic or Latino14.5% · 25
- White11.6% · 20
- Two or more races1.7% · 3
Popularity
Rodrigues: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rodrigues from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 56 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rodrigues by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Rodrigues during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rodrigues
The name Rodrigues has its origins in the Iberian Peninsula, specifically in the Galician-Portuguese and Spanish languages. It is derived from the Germanic name Roderick, which comes from the elements "hrod" meaning "fame" and "ric" meaning "power" or "ruler." The name Rodrigues is a patronymic form, indicating "son of Rodrigo."
The earliest known reference to the name Rodrigues dates back to the 8th century, during the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. One of the last Visigothic kings of Spain was named Rodrigo, who ruled from 710 to 711 CE. His defeat at the hands of the Moors marked the end of Visigothic rule in the region.
In the 12th century, the name Rodrigues appeared in the famous Portuguese epic poem "Os Lusíadas" by Luís de Camões. The poem mentions Rodrigues de Bivar, better known as El Cid, a Castilian nobleman and military leader who played a significant role in the Reconquista (the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule).
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Rodrigues was João Rodrigues Cabrilho, a Portuguese explorer who sailed for the Spanish Crown in the 16th century. Cabrilho is credited with the first exploration of the coast of present-day California in 1542-1543.
Another notable figure in history with the name Rodrigues was Gonçalo Rodrigues, a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer. He is known for his exploration of the Cape Verde Islands and the African coast in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator.
In the field of literature, João Rodrigues de Sá e Meneses, a 17th-century Portuguese poet and playwright, is renowned for his works in the baroque style. His plays and poetry were influential in the development of Portuguese literature during the Golden Age.
Rodrigues has also been a prominent name in the world of sports. One example is Hélio Rodrigues, a Brazilian Formula One racing driver who competed in the 1970s and 1980s. He participated in 35 Grand Prix races and achieved his best result with a third-place finish at the 1978 Austrian Grand Prix.
People
Rodrigues + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rodrigues as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Rodrigues: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rodrigues?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 99 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rodrigues going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,462,165 US residents.
Is Rodrigues a common name?
We classify Rodrigues as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 105 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rodrigues most popular?
The single biggest year for Rodrigues was 1978, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rodrigues is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rodrigues in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 173 people with the name Rodrigues, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,949 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Rodrigues in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Rodrigues?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rodrigues leans strongly male. 162 people counted with this name were male (91.5%), compared with 15 female bearers (8.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Rodrigues?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodrigues is Black at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and White (11.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Rodrigues most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rodrigues in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.3% (125 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Rodrigues in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rodrigues a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rodrigues in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Rodrigues still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rodrigues in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Rodrigues can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Rodrigues?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.